Administration on the Brink of Collapse, Yet Legislature Remains Oblivious

  Administration on the Brink of Collapse, Yet Legislature Remains Oblivious

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

August 23, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

Surprises have been occurring endlessly in Taiwan’s society recently: a South Korean recidivist burglar, in his first act in town, broke into the DPP's headquarters, entering and exiting the airport at will; a zealot citizen stole a samurai sword from the Armed Forces Museum of History, went straight to the Presidential Palace, wounding a military policeman on duty; an anti-pension reform demonstration, long publicized beforehand, nearly destroyed the image of the World Universiade sponsored by Taipei; an error in an engineer’s operation caused a power outage for six million households. These cases show that the administrative malfunction in Taiwan has reached an incredible situation and that the systemic collapse of the government has arrived at the stage of a "crisis of national security."

The country has been collapsing to this point, and the executive ministries have shown malfunction and ineptitude, while the Legislature, surprisingly, voluntarily surrendered its powers. The new Legislature, after operating for over a year, only sees the high-handedness of the DPP with "full governance," sees the fulfillment of the party’s will through the "tyranny of the majority," but does not see the presence of pluralistic opinions, not to mention legislative oversight and checks and balances vis-à-vis Executive power.

Regrettably, the DPP that strived and struggled for Taiwan's democracy in yesteryear’s parliament, today's party caucus, on the other hand, looks like a spineless animal, looking up to President Tsai’s countenance, but having no will or thinking of its own. What’s more, it has forgotten the purpose of designing legislative power in a constitutional democracy. Isn’t this the greatest irony in the democratic development of Taiwan?

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